grind up the pellets really fine, don't soak them. then mix with some
baby food, and get something like a shake powder for athletes or
vegetarians, and add some of that; put in a fluid to make it thin and
give in a syringe. what you want is nutrient density [the supplement
powder] with something his gut is used to [the pellets] with taste, the
baby food, and the fluid to keep from dehydration.
Lori Coates wrote:
> On Monday I noticed Adam was not his perky old self. He was eating
slower,
> the pellet bowl was not as empty as it should be for that time of night
and
> he was hiding in his bath house. So Tuesday morning Adam went into see
the
> vet. She took a good look at his teeth and could not find any spurs.
She
> said spurs after all this time (he is older now) would be a bit odd.
But
> all my observations meant tooth problems. She put Adam under to have a
> better look. When she did this, she found a very wobbly molar that with
> further inspection fell out. There was infection underneath. She did
what
> she could, took some x-rays and did some work on his teeth to make him
more
> comfortable and then Adam came home. He is on antibiotics for the
infection
> and goes back for a check-up on Monday. Tuesday night and Wed Adam was
> understandably finding it a bit difficult to eat hard things so I was
> supplementing him with a syringe feeding formula and a little bit of
pain
> killers. It is now Sunday and Adam still refuses to eat on his own. It
is
> not that he can not eat - he will not now. He has decided he likes the
> syringe formula, that I now make into a dough like consistency and roll
into
> a ball and put in his house, and he eats that readily. He will eat a
peanut
> with no trouble and to test this I gave him a piece of hamster food -
one of
> those very hard colored bits. He devoured it. So he can eat hard
things
> with no trouble. I am no longer getting up at night to feed him because
he
> could easily eat his pellets now, he just won't. When I wake up he
greets
> me in his 'starved chin' way and I give him his ball of mush and he
devours
> it. I also try giving him pellets and he will take it in his mouth,
realize
> it is a pellet and then throw it aside or just let it drop without even
> attempting to eat it. He can eat alfalfa as well so I know this is an
issue
> of refusing to eat his normal food as opposed to not being able to. I
did
> try making his own pellets soft and he did take one bite until he
realized
> what it was and then tossed it aside. So it is just his food he doesn't
> want.
>
> How can I get Adam to eat his own food again? I left him for seven
hours
> last night and he didn't eat anything on his own. Because I am putting
> alfalfa etc in his cage his partner Charlie is also now eating pellets!
>
> Help!
> Lori
>
>
>
--
Betti [chinmom]
www.cachins.org
www.home.comcast.net/~chinmom
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